Chapter Eight
Conflicting Worries
Edward

I sat in the waiting room, tapping my foot nervously as I waited for Carlisle to come and update me on Alice's condition.

Seeing her lying on the gym floor, blood pooling around her head, looking so broken, will forever be burned into my memory.

Alice is a fighter, she does not cower down, and to see her so utterly defeated has shaken me to my core.

"She'll be alright Edward." Emmett reassured me. "You know Alice, the chick can bounce back from anything." He chuckled.

"I'm so worried. I've never been this stressed in my entire existence." I sighed.

"I know brother." Emmett placed his hand on my back in comfort. "I know." He sighed.

"You really care for her as well, don't you?" I turned towards Emmett.

"Yeah, yeah I do." He nodded, a grin on his face. "I don't really know how to describe it...she's just made everything...better." Emmett nodded. "She's fun to have around, she makes you happy, and I don't want anything bad to ever happen to her again, this is awful." He shook his head.

"It really is." I nodded my head.

Suddenly, Thomas rushed into the waiting room and ran up to the front desk.

"I'm looking for someone, Alice, Alice Brandon." He spoke worriedly, to the point that I couldn't doubt he cared very much for her.

"She's in a critical state. Don't worry though, Doctor Cullen is taking very good care of her, he's one one the best." The nurse smiled kindly at him. "Why don't you take a seat and I'm sure Doctor Cullen will be out to update everyone soon."

Thomas turned and made direct eye contact with me, looking very unhappy to see me there before him. Emmett, on the other hand, smiled brightly at Thomas and motioned for him to come take a seat across from us. He grudgingly crossed the room and sat opposite from us, putting a neutral expression on his face.

"So, you're Edward Cullen?" He eyed me dangerously and suddenly my senses prickled in warning. Something about this boy isn't right.

"Yes, I am, this is my brother Emmett." I motioned towards my bulk of a brother next to me.

"How are ya man?" Emmett asked, sounding friendly, but his face looked grim and dangerous.

"I would be better if I knew how Alice was." He grumbled.

"So would I." I chuckled humorlessly. 

"We both know that I'm better for her than you are. I've know her since we were kids in Forks, you've known her for what? Two months?" He challenged and suddenly everything made sense.

Black. Thomas Black. He's a Native American from the tribe of shape shifters in Forks, Washington. He's a descendent of Ephraim Black, I'm willing to bet my life on it. By his looks, I doubt that he's actually shifted yet. But his being near actual vampires could change that very soon. He's dangerous and uncontrollable, I don't want him anywhere near my Alice.

"Alice is a completely different woman then the little girl you knew. You don't know her like you think you do, you can't help her like I can, so don't even try to take her away from me because I won't let you." I warned him.

"I can't believe this." Thomas chuckled and stood, shaking his head as he left the waiting room.

"He's one of those dogs from Forks." Emmett shook his head. "This is going to be fun." He chuckled.

"Fun?" I cried. "Emmett, do you realize what this could mean for Alice? He could hurt her!"

"She's really got a thing for the supernatural huh?" He chuckled.

"I'm being serious." I grumbled.

The sliding doors to the waiting room of the ICU opened again and police chief Mark Brandon, Alice's father, briskly walked up to the front desk.

"Chief Brandon, what can I do for you?" The woman working the sign in area asked him kindly.

"I got a call that my daughter was rushed here, something about her head or something." He answered as if he were annoyed by the situation.

"Yes, she was brought in three hours ago. Why don't you take a seat and I'll let you know when you can go see her?" The nurse gestured and Mark rolled his eyes as he sat down four seats away from myself and Emmett.

"God dammit Alice, no good daughter, just as worthless as her mother was." I overheard Marks thoughts and they shocked me to my core.

"Edward, are you alright?" Emmett asked as I clenched my hands into fist and snapped my teeth together to keep myself from destroying Alice's father.

Everything suddenly made sense. Alice's aversion to talking about her parents, Marks stern and strict attitude towards Alice, the way Alice cares for Cynthia, the fact that I've yet to see or hear anything about Alice's mother. The way everyone at school was treating Alice with pity before we started dating...

"Alice's mother is dead." I told Emmett quietly.

"What?!" He gasped.

"That's why Alice and Mark can't stand each other, it's because her mother is dead and something serious happened between them after it. Mark hates Alice." I told him.

"Mr. Brandon, you can come see Alice now." A nurse opened the access door to the ICU and he quickly got up and followed her, acting the part of a concerned parent as he mentally cussed Alice out.

"Are you sure Edward? That's a pretty big decision to make just cause you heard something mean in Marks head." Emmett asked.

"I'm sure." I nodded as Carlisle came out of the access door and rushed over to sit next to me and Emmett.

"She's going to be alright." He told me and I sighed in relief. "She'll have to have some pretty serious surgery and rehab but I'm very hopeful she'll make a full recovery." Carlisle gave me the greatest news of my existence.

"Edward found out that Alice's mother is dead." Emmett told on me to Carlisle.

"What?" Carlisle was sent reeling. "Are you absolutely sure?" He asked and I nodded.

"No doubt in my mind. Mark hates Alice because of whatever happened between them after her mother died." I told Carlisle and he sighed deeply.

"Then I better go back and check on Alice, Marks alone with her right now." He got up and left quickly.

"We should go if she's going to be in surgery for awhile, you need to hunt and I promised Rosalie we would be home after school." Emmett told me, standing.

"You're right." I nodded.

After leaving a note with the nurse for Carlisle to call me the second she was out of surgery, Emmett and I got in my Volvo and headed home. Jasper met us the second we stepped inside.

"Why do you two reek of blood?" Jasper asked, his eyebrows turning up in question.

"The cheerleaders dropped Alice in the pep rally today." Emmett answered him.

"Is she okay?" Jasper asked worriedly and I sighed.

"She'll be fine. Carlisle said that she needs serious surgery and rehab but he's hopeful she'll make a full recovery." I answered him. "I can already tell you that this is the end of her cheerleading career however." I grumbled.

"That's tough." Jasper sighed. "Well, I'm glad she's going to be okay. It could have been a lot worse."

"I'm glad too, she very easily could have broken her neck." I sighed.

"You know, she usually has visions about this type of stuff. I wonder why she didn't tell us so we could stop it." Emmett mused and I froze.

"You don't think she actually saw this happen and didn't tell us, do you?" I asked.

"Well, she had a vision at lunch didn't she? And she didn't say anything about it." Emmett responded.

"No, no, I don't believe she would hide something like this from me. I'm sure she just didn't see it in time." I shook my head. "Let's go hunting, I need to take my mind off all of this." I shook my head and Emmett and Jasper both cheered.

"Last one to catch something is a loser!" Emmett hollered as he rushed from the house.

"Hey no fair! You got an early start!" Jasper yelled as he raced after him and I chuckled to myself.

"I'm still the fastest, get ready to weep losers!" I taunted my brothers as I sped past them and into the surrounding woods.

"Loser, loser, loser!" Emmett hollered as he and I stepped inside the backdoor while Jasper trudged behind us.

"Everything taste like dirt, excuse me for not being excited to sink my teeth into something so disgusting." Jasper shuddered and Emmet and I both laughed at him.

"Come on Jasper, we're only kidding you." Emmett shook his shoulders.

"Yeah yeah." Jasper chuckled, shaking Emmett off.

"Carlisle called for you Edward." Rosalie announced from her seat at the table as I walked into the kitchen followed by Jasper and Emmett.

"Is Alice out of surgery already?" I asked confused, knowing she had only been in surgery for two hours.

"Yes, it went faster then he thought. She's in recovery, you can go see her now." Rosalie muttered.

"Thank you." I nodded. "I know you hate Alice, so it means a lot for you to still update me." I told her sincerely.

"Yeah, whatever, go see your precious little human." She sneered and I headed out to my car and drove to the hospital as quickly as possible.

Carlisle met me in the hallway and showed me into her room.

"Her father left shortly after you did, I doubt he's coming back to see her. You should stay with her tonight, if she wakes up call me and I'll rush back to check over her. She should stay pretty out of it with all of the pain medications I have her on." Carlisle patted my back.

"Thanks dad." I told him and settled into the chair beside her bed.